Journalist, filmmaker and author Sarfraz Manzoor grew up in two worlds, a son of working-class Pakistani immigrants who told him he’d never be accepted by the white English – yet he immersed himself in Western pop culture and built a life in it. By 2016 he’d become anxious that the multicultural Britain that made him was falling apart. He talks to Alex Andreou about his powerful new book THEY: What Muslims and Non-Muslims Get Wrong About Each Other, and how to dispel the fears that divide us. “I...
Aug 22, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 380
What is the situation really like on the ground in Afghanistan, after the Taliban’s astonishingly swift takeover? Our panelist Arthur Snell talks to one of his contacts, presently in hiding in Kabul. We have chosen not identify them for their own safety. https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast “Kabul has been left without anything.” “Everything is closed down. You would think it is the Stone Age in Kabul. You wouldn't have seen this a week ago.” “This was a win-win for Russia.” “The Taliban have made...
Aug 19, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 379
World War II seemed to mark the end of American conservatism, and a new liberal age. Then Reagan came along – and we’re still living with the consequences. What explains the dominance of conservatism in modern American politics? Historian Rick Perlstein talks to Dorian Lynskey about his new book, Reaganland , the finale of a three-part saga about the cutthroat strategies of the conservatives behind America’s rightwards shift… “Reagan’s inauguration was a hinge in American history.” “Before Reaga...
Aug 18, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 378
The fall of Kabul to the Taliban has placed thousands of people in mortal danger and traumatised the entire Western security establishment. How did we get it so wrong, and what happens next? Also, the future of COVID : Leeds University Global Health Professor Garrett W. Brown joins us to set out the next pandemic and why the “Pasteurian Paradigm” won’t save us. Plus Labour expels Ken Loach , what would Immanuel Kant make of Brexit Britain… and should we stop referring to curry as “curry”? Apolog...
Aug 17, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 377
The Afghan Government’s sudden collapse and the return of Taliban rule have both shocked the international community. What happens next? What can Afghan civilians and women especially expect from their new rulers? And just how big a catastrophe is this for the Biden administration? Arthur Snell , who has spent time in Helmand Province himself, lays out the consequences of a day of brutal reverse for the West – and shame for Britain. Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers ...
Aug 16, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 376
Will it take a satirist to fix Britain’s busted politics? Armando Iannucci – writer of The Thick Of It, The Day Today and Veep – is looking for emergency fixes in the new podcast series Westminster Reimagined. He and producer Anoosh Chakelian talk to former SPAD Ayesha Hazarika about the forces that are breaking our politics. Why are things so bad? What will it take to fix them? And does Malcolm Tucker seem like an idealist by today’s standards? https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast “ The Thick Of ...
Aug 15, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 375
Aegean neighbours Greece and Turkey have been rivals for centuries – and both countries are prone to forgetting the “unfortunate episodes” in their relations with the other. Can they ever get past their infamous regional enmity? Alex Andreou talks to Turkish author and columnist Defne Suman – whose latest novel, The Silence of Scheherazade , looks at a flashpoint of the Greek-Turkish relationship, the Great Fire of Smyrna – about historical silences, lost cultures and the way forward. “It's hard...
Aug 12, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 374
For many of us, the warm light of the fridge was one of the few consolations of lockdown. But now we’re living in a harsh new reality of intermittently empty supermarket shelves and farms that are struggling to adapt to Brexit, COVID, and climate change. So how do we make our food supply chains healthier and more secure? Sarah K Mock , agriculture journalist and author of Farm: And Other F Words , and Cambridge University researcher Dolly Theis join Ros Taylor to chew on the myth of conscious co...
Aug 11, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 373
As pandemic politics start to ebb away, Johnson’s ratings are down among the Tory faithful and his MPs are growing restive. Is this a time to pick a fight with Rishi Sunak? Plus, will Apple’s photo-scanning tech trap more than child abusers? Spain makes glorifying Franco a crime. And why do we let polls lead politics? Adam Payne , Westminster and Brexit reporter for PoliticsHome, is our guest. “We have a Government which is absolutely obsessed with public opinion, and a PM obsessed with being po...
Aug 10, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 372
This week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report could signal our last chance to stop the global climate running out of control. Will the world take it? Plus: vaccine passports continue to go round in circles. We try to talk about GCSE and A-level results without saying “grade inflation”. And Labour starts its traditional pre-conference programme of beating itself up. Alex Andreou flags up the big issues in the week ahead. “In what world are The Telegraph defending working class nort...
Aug 09, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 371
Recorded at 11pm on Saturday night and already our GB medals toll is out of date… At the end of the most controversial Olympics in almost a century, Financial Times Sports Editor MURAD AHMED calls us from Tokyo to lift the curtain on what it all means. Is the International Olympics Committee finally getting the message on athletes’ mental health and political commitments? Did the “Russian Olympic Committee” successfully pull a fast one on the anti-dopers? Is Britain’s commitment to medals all it...
Aug 08, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 370
From Modi’s India to Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Erdogan’s Turkey, the far right is on the rise around the world. Are we really on the brink of resurgent fascism? And if so, how do we fight it? Political journalist Paul Mason tells Dorian Lynskey about his radical blueprint for defeating the extreme right, outlined in his new book How to Stop Fascism. Why is trust in democracy collapsing around the world, and can what progressives do to win it back? “People like Trump and Bolsonaro don’t want to play...
Aug 05, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 369
Cameron and Osborne’s “Golden Era” of cosying up to China turned out to be a golden error, as Beijing dug deep into British life, politics, and technology. Investigative journalist Sam Dunning tells Arthur Snell how the Conservatives’ strings-free get-rich-quick strategy turned into a trap for British business and academia. While the Tories trumpet free speech on campus, students who want talk about the Uyghurs are being silenced at Jesus College Cambridge. Is it too late to curb China’s disturb...
Aug 04, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 368
Now that the pandemic may be abating, the Government decides that the best people to pay the bill are… those pesky, hard-up young people. Climate change and student activist Phoebe Hanson joins us to explain what it’s like to be mis-sold the student experience by universities that act like businesses but won’t treat you like a customer. Plus, how the planned changes to the Official Secrets Act will treat journalists like spies. And the truth behind those supply chain nightmares. “It's hard to fe...
Aug 03, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 367
Will bribes for Deliveroo and Uber be enough to persuade recalcitrant youth to get their jabs? Are we nearing herd immunity on COVID? Is Tony Blair to blame for food shortages because his university drive produced a generation of egghead boffins who can’t drive an HGV? And with thousands of kids catastrophically behind on their schooling, the Government has the solution: bring back Latin. Ros Taylor nobis narrat de septem praemisit. “A Deliveroo voucher isn't going to turn a hardcore anti-vaxxer...
Aug 02, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 366
What if you discovered that your Dad was living a double life, and really worked in the CIA? Does managing The Police prepare you for advising the Pentagon? From his chateau in France, maverick music manager Miles Copeland chats to Dorian Lynskey about his memoirs Two Steps Forward, One Step Back , moving from the Middle East and London, and how his record label IRS launched the careers of The Go-Gos, The Bangles, and R.E.M. “I already knew my Dad was in the CIA when I was fourteen years old.” “...
Aug 01, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 365
The wrongful conviction of hundreds of subpostmasters for false accounting was so shocking that even Boris Johnson as called it one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in our history. Why did Post Office management cover up the truth about its flawed software, even after innocent people went to prison? As the Government sets aside £233m in interim compensation, criminal law expert Dr Hannah Quirk untangles a Kafkaesque nightmare that led innocent people to be ruined, jailed, shamed and pushed...
Jul 29, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 364
COVID is a paradise of hindsight – a world of self-appointed experts who tell us what should have happened – and sometimes rewriting what did happen to suit themselves. But what about those people who could see what was going to happen? On March 10 2020, writer Tomas Pueyo posted an article called Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now – it made strong argument for rapid lockdowns at a time when Boris Johnson was still arguing that washing our hands was enough. 40 million views later, he joins Justin...
Jul 28, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 363
It’s time for Parliament’s end of term report card. Does anyone at all get an A, or should everyone be forced to repeat the year in disgrace? Special guest Thangam Debbonaire MP , Shadow Leader of the Commons, joins us to explain the meaning of Dawn Butler calling Boris Johnson a liar in the House; whether Rees-Mogg actually casts a shadow; what Labour is doing right and wrong… and her as-yet unpublished novel ‘Murder In The Whip’s Office’. “People in space know that Boris Johnson tells lies. I ...
Jul 27, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 362
New COVID infections are trending downwards. Has Johnson’s Freedom Day gamble paid off, or are we just in a moment of calm before a new wave breaks? Plus pingdemic panic, vaccine passports, the Government gives up on students (again), Lord Frost tries to bore the EU into submission, and why the Taliban probably won’t take all of Afghanistan. Arthur Snell joins Andrew Harrison to lay out what’s coming in the week ahead. • “ Johnson no longer has a team in Number 10 to manage the political landsca...
Jul 26, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 361
With new technology, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you become part of the road. What are the big topics in tech that we should be talking about – for our own prosperity and survival? King’s College Professor Mischa Dohler tells Alex Andreou how a real plan for tech can use hyperfast Wi-Fi to create an “internet of skills”. Are there any insurmountable barriers between us and technological nirvana? And how close are we to building an actual working Iron Man? “We should use technology to ...
Jul 25, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 360
It’s astonishingly beautiful, fiercely independent, full of mystery and a crossroads of jaw-dropping historical events – so why do we still think of Romania as a backwater? Paul Kenyon, author of Children of the Night: The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania , tells Arthur Snell how this sensational state has survived multiple coups, fascist death cults, dictators, and Cold War spies…and why Dracula doesn’t enjoy such a bad rep among his fellow Romanians. “Romania’s fascist movement was led...
Jul 22, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 359
India’s brutal second wave of COVID is now receding, leaving behind intensified poverty, economic carnage, a staggering estimated 400-700m infections and a death rate of approximately 2%. But things were already going catastrophically wrong in the world’s largest democracy thanks to the rule of science-denying populist Narendra Modi. Ros Taylor talks to journalist Debasish Roy Chowdhury and Professor John Keane about their latest book, To Kill A Democracy: India’s Passage To Despotism – and what...
Jul 21, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 358
As Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid roll the dice with the health of millions, healthcare commentator Roy Lilley takes us on a deep dive into what’s in store for the NHS. Plus, the Cuban uprising and the Labour Left, the Pegasus spyware scandal, and do universities really need a Free Speech Enforcer? (Spoiler: no). Plus… are you on a pilot scheme? If not, why not? “I ’ ve been around politics for a long time, and this is the worst situation I ’ ve ever seen.” – Roy Lilley “The problem with making i...
Jul 20, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 357
As Johnson opens “ Freedom Day ” with a classic one-rule-for-us flip-flop (hey, he was in a pilot scheme!) what does England’s first week without restrictions mean for ordinary people who aren’t in the Cabinet? Plus the NI protocol reaches crunch point, Keir Starmer prepares for war on Labour’s far Left , and what the Pegasus Spyware scandal means. Naomi Smith joins Andrew Harrison to set out the week ahead. • “ The government is coming for immigrants, people seeking sanctuary and our democratic...
Jul 19, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 356
“Neanderthal” is a common term of abuse but should we stop feeling so superior towards our close evolutionary relatives? Did they think like us, even at the abstract level? Rebecca Wragg Sykes , author of the “insanely fascinating” Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death And Art tells Ian Dunt what we know about the astonishing sophistication of Neanderthal mind, manufacturing and material culture… and why there are traces of Neanderthal in us today. “If we could scan a Neanderthal brain it’s ver...
Jul 18, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 355
The pandemic has stress-tested Britain’s tech sector for flaws and strengths. Does it have the capacity to overcome the damage caused by Brexit? Alex Andreou talks to Professor Richard A. L. Jones , Manchester University expert in Materials Physics and Innovation Policy, about whether COVID restored the value of experts, and what the NHS Digital health data sell-offs mean for our personal privacy… • “Science is a very international industry – but Brexit and COVID have damaged that.” • “The idea ...
Jul 15, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 354
The video series Anywhere But Westminster by John Harris and John Domokos is one of the Guardian’s most acclaimed strands and now a winner of the Orwell Prize. What makes it work? The Two Johns tell Dorian Lynskey about why we need more reportage and fewer pundits, how they talk to real voters without falling into vox pop stereotypes, the value of uncertainty… and why we are all Walsall now. “I cried on camera when a group of Liverpool mums described life without a Sure Start Centre.” – John Har...
Jul 14, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 353
Has the heroic, nearly-there performance of Gareth Southgate’s England team shown that politics and sport do mix – if the politics is about young players stand up for what’s right? Boris Johnson sets his sights on unlocking regardless of rising COVID figures. And which politicians could we stand to go on holiday with? And who would we avoid? https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Presented by Andrew Harrison with Marie le Conte, Ahir Shah and Yasmeen Serhan. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and J...
Jul 13, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 352
After all that, penalties again. England’s Euros end in defeat in the Final but how has this tournament changed the relationship between the team and the nation – and football itself? BBC and Premier League football journalist Lynsey Hooper of The Offside Rule podcast and Philippe Auclair, England correspondent for France Football magazine, join Andrew Harrison to commiserate and work out what it all means. • “ Why would you go to the pub at eight in the morning? I would want to be lucid for eve...
Jul 12, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 351
